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World Beyond Pluto
This ebook contains the final three suspense-filled adventures in the "lives" of Johnny Mayhem, the fabulous cosmic trouble-shooter. Mayhem was the most popular character appearing in the American science fiction magazines of the mid- to late-1950s. His body reconstructed by aliens after a crash landing, Mayhem is literally "the man who saved the universe" � and the price he pays for it is a terrible one, for Mayhem's consciousness can move from body to body, but he can inhabit each body only for 30 days, or he and it will die. So Johnny becomes a galactic trouble-shooter who must face the greatest dangers that threaten humanity and triumph over them � or perish.  The first story, "A Coward Named Mayhem," sends him into space on a brave man's mission. But how can he succeed�trapped as he is in the body of a man with a coward's reactions? The second, "Think Yourself to Death," involves Mayhem in a gender-change, transplanted tin a female body, and adventure on a planet of Ophiuchus. In Johnny's final adventure ever, "World Beyond Pluto," Johnny is off to Partap's Planet, whose stubborn residents resist evacuation when their sun is about to go nova.
- GenresScience Fiction
90 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2011
4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 28, 2017
The last Johnny Mayhem adventures are as good as all the previous ones. Dynamic storytelling that hasn't aged a day, great pacing, smart plot and fun adventures. I could not ask for a better classic pulp era read. Actually, it is a great read no matter what era (I discovered them in 2017). I will definitely miss reading about the exploit of Mr. Mayhem and I hope some other authors could revive him for more adventures.
December 15, 2025
This is a wierd story. On paper, it should be a lot more exciting than it is. But it fails. It's actually kind of dull and unexciting.
We have a:
1. A Space port chief on Triton who talks like a 1920's Chicago gangster.
2. A 100 piece, all-girl symphony orchestra. And gender roles and definitions straight out of 1920's American culture.
3. "The Widow Moriarty" who is a 40 year old Grand Dame, chubby, manly and overbearing. She is constantly, and insistently referred to as "The Widow Moriarty" so often it becomes irritating. She eventually gets punched in the face by the bad guy, and I think we are supposed to laugh at that part.
4. A bad guy, who is an escaped prisoner, musically called House Bartock for some reason. He kills some men, steals a ship, the "Mozart's Lady" with the girl orchestra on board, and escapes to Pluto.
5. Johnny Meyhem, a bodiless sentient whose elan can inhabit and use a body as his own for thirty days before one or the other dies. He is sent out to capture and/or kill House Bartock.
6. A chase through space to Pluto between the Mozart's Lady and Johnny Meyhem's "coffin" ship.
7. A crash landing and an emergency landing on Pluto.
8. An atmosphere on Pluto anyone can breathe, and a large sea-serpant type monster getting in Johnny Meyhem's way.
9. A strange time warp thing on Pluto where, at first everything and everyone moves in slow motion, only to start speeding up as the story needs "action" to happen. It's all just relative, btw.
10. A bloody, to the death battle between Johnny Meyhem and House Bartock, where one of them dies. The sea-serpant also dies, btw.
So sounds like we're in for a lot of excitement doesn't it. But it doesn't happen. The whole story just kind of falls flat. Something about the writing comes off as uninspired and perfunctory.
I was kind of bored while reading this. I only recommend it to someone who is a completist and interested in all pulp sci-fi. Even the stuff that isn't so good.
Also....ah, where in the story is "The World Beyond Pluto"? I found no sign of it.
We have a:
1. A Space port chief on Triton who talks like a 1920's Chicago gangster.
2. A 100 piece, all-girl symphony orchestra. And gender roles and definitions straight out of 1920's American culture.
3. "The Widow Moriarty" who is a 40 year old Grand Dame, chubby, manly and overbearing. She is constantly, and insistently referred to as "The Widow Moriarty" so often it becomes irritating. She eventually gets punched in the face by the bad guy, and I think we are supposed to laugh at that part.
4. A bad guy, who is an escaped prisoner, musically called House Bartock for some reason. He kills some men, steals a ship, the "Mozart's Lady" with the girl orchestra on board, and escapes to Pluto.
5. Johnny Meyhem, a bodiless sentient whose elan can inhabit and use a body as his own for thirty days before one or the other dies. He is sent out to capture and/or kill House Bartock.
6. A chase through space to Pluto between the Mozart's Lady and Johnny Meyhem's "coffin" ship.
7. A crash landing and an emergency landing on Pluto.
8. An atmosphere on Pluto anyone can breathe, and a large sea-serpant type monster getting in Johnny Meyhem's way.
9. A strange time warp thing on Pluto where, at first everything and everyone moves in slow motion, only to start speeding up as the story needs "action" to happen. It's all just relative, btw.
10. A bloody, to the death battle between Johnny Meyhem and House Bartock, where one of them dies. The sea-serpant also dies, btw.
So sounds like we're in for a lot of excitement doesn't it. But it doesn't happen. The whole story just kind of falls flat. Something about the writing comes off as uninspired and perfunctory.
I was kind of bored while reading this. I only recommend it to someone who is a completist and interested in all pulp sci-fi. Even the stuff that isn't so good.
Also....ah, where in the story is "The World Beyond Pluto"? I found no sign of it.
January 12, 2025
Johnny Mayhem, a being of energy who temporarily inhabits the bodies of the recently deceased, volunteers to chase down an escaped convict named House Bartock after he murdered a pilot and hijacked a spacecraft on Triton. What Bartock wasn’t anticipating were the passengers—one hundred young women who comprise a traveling symphony orchestra. Rather than heading toward the inner planets, Bartock takes the ship to Pluto where he and Mayhem have a final showdown.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews